Hi everyone,

I am currently living in LA, just about to move back to London. I am researching for a novel which involves a character who gets involved with a destructive cult and I am looking for some reading material which might help me understand the way in which someone might become involved in a cult. I was thinking along the lines of good biographies of cult survivours, but any other suggestions would be great.

I am also trying to read up in depth on how a person would go about helping someone to escape a cult.

I am writing a work of fiction here so I am trying to "create" my own cult and of course the characters will be fictional. I hope these are appropriate questions for this board and I look forward to chatting with you guys.

David.

I am in the midst of reading,

"Mother of God" by Luna Tarlo and

"Spiritual Perversion" by Steve Sanchez.

Both are true stories, but may help you in your research.

Thank you Solway, I have sourced a copy of Spiritual Perversion and I am awaiting it in the post.

Also thanks to C who PM'd me, I can't PM back because I am too new on the forum but you gave me a really good start on some reading.

I have also ordered a copy of "A Place Called Waco" which is by one of the survivours. Has anyone read this? I am guessing that it will lean towards the Branch Davidian side of the story but would be interested to hear people's opinions.

Also any other comments, reading or recommendations would still be very gratefully received.

Not a credible book.

Written by David Thibodeau, a drummer in Koresh's band who first sold his story to the TV show "A Current Affair" right after the fire for $25,000.

Thibodeau once lectured radical "militia" groups and is something of a crank.

See [www.culteducation.com]

This is a large subsection within the database with information about Waco.

Thanks Mod.

I will take a look at the book, purely because I want to get some insight into how someone becomes involved with groups like these.

It's worth remembering I am writing a work of fiction where a character comes heavily under the influence of a cult, so I do need to see both sides of the story.

i have to say I am finding the whole subject fascinating and I am really enjoying all the information you guys are feeding my way. I shall remember you in my acknowledgements!

James Endres has written one of the best pieces on the subject:

[www.xs4all.nl]



Ellen

Eric, no offense here, but I am wondering why you would want to write a book about a character you don't understand. If you can't understand why someone would join a cult, how are you going to pull this off?

Having hung around on the outskirts of a few cults myself, I'd say that the #1 thing that attracts people to cults is either a spiritual awakening or a sense of some sort of personal awakening or revelation about themselves. It's an indescribable feeling and is very emotional. The person then attributes this feeling to the cult and gets more deeply involved. If you have never felt that way, I can't explain it to you and you probably can't write about it.

"The Program" by Gregg Hurwitz
a thriller based upon an LGAT

"Space Between the Stars"
by Deborah Santana

of course... you must understand the Bible of all this, as appropriate background
"Cults in Our Midst" by Margaret Singer

and, of course, check RR's book list.... check on link above "books"

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Gulab Jamon
Eric, no offense here, but I am wondering why you would want to write a book about a character you don't understand. If you can't understand why someone would join a cult, how are you going to pull this off?

Having hung around on the outskirts of a few cults myself, I'd say that the #1 thing that attracts people to cults is either a spiritual awakening or a sense of some sort of personal awakening or revelation about themselves. It's an indescribable feeling and is very emotional. The person then attributes this feeling to the cult and gets more deeply involved. If you have never felt that way, I can't explain it to you and you probably can't write about it.

That's a very strange attitude. You think every work of fiction is based on personal experience? Do you think Melville spent a lot of time hunting whales? Shakespeare is supposed to have never left England, but he still wrote convincingly about Europe and European culture.

I think you are narrow minded and lack an imagination. But thank you for your comments.

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Eric_le_roi

That's a very strange attitude. You think every work of fiction is based on personal experience? Do you think Melville spent a lot of time hunting whales? Shakespeare is supposed to have never left England, but he still wrote convincingly about Europe and European culture.

I think you are narrow minded and lack an imagination. But thank you for your comments.

You apparently completely misunderstood what I said. I did not say that every book character has to be solely based on a writer's experience. But in my experience (and I have friends who are professional writers) there is usually something that the author puts into the character that comes from personal experience, or something about that character that reflects something the author is drawn to. Melville may not have hunted whales, but he lived in a maritime community (on Long Island) and no doubt had a great deal of interest in all things nautical including whales. He may not have had the exact same experiences as Ishmael, but there was something of himself in it.

I'm not saying that you have to be in a cult to write about someone in a cult, but I am saying that you need to understand the thoughts and feelings behind someone like that. The fact that you are posting on a Cult Education Forum (a place where people come to learn about the negative and destructive aspects of cults) proves my point exactly: You are looking at this character from an unsympathetic point of view. If you really wanted to create a believable character, you would go to a forum for people who are CURRENTLY in cults, not people who have left them.